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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to challenge my husband using the same excuse over chores?

115 replies

sausagetheorangecat · 06/09/2026 00:18

Husband has always been rubbish at house chores- doesn’t like tidying, doesn’t see mess, leaves laundry on floor etc. I do most of it as for me a tidy house = tidy mind.

However we keep having arguments over chores. Example our 8 month old keeps weeing through the nappies at night the last few days so this morning I took off the wet sheet and mattress protector to wash. Tonight my husband put baby to bed and just put him on the bare mattress. No sheet. I got mad because if baby wets through I then have a wet mattress. His response (which has been the same response over similar arguments) is to shout that I am always having a go at him for everything, he can’t do anything right, he didn’t mean it, and threatens leaving me with ‘the way I am with him’. .
Aibu to say that he can’t use that excuse every time? I don’t want to split, we’ve been together years and have children. How do i navigate things like this without the threat of him leaving me? I feel like we either have a major argument or I should keep quiet and just moved baby and put a clean sheet on bed myself

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thetinsoldier · 08/09/2026 07:43

outerspacepotato · 06/09/2026 00:35

You married a lazy ass who uses threats of leaving to avoid housework. That's not excuses, that's manipulation. He wants you to shut up and do it all.

You might find the housework lessened and easier if he did leave. He sounds immature as well as lazy.

This.

If you knew he was like this when you ttc with him, what did you think would happen?

Being unable to talk to him about issues is a massive red flag. He has the emotional maturity of a toaster - threatening to leave and being defensive are huge red flags.

Doesn’t sound like a good relationship at all, and you’re in the trenches with young dc.

You will grow to resent him even more, then hate him, I’d he current step up and start doing his share.

SALaw · 08/09/2026 07:26

But not every two word (or three or four etc) phrase is included in the dictionary? It’s not like saying a single word isn’t in there.

OneSparklyGoat · 07/09/2026 23:43

SALaw · 07/09/2026 23:35

Because it’s a two word phrase?

www.mumsnet.com/talk/pedants_corner/5575981-weaponized-incompetence

SALaw · 07/09/2026 23:35

HumbleHun · 06/09/2026 01:45

You won't find it in the Oxford English dictionary that's for sure. I should know I used to teach English and taught one of the current senior script writers on Emmerdale when he/she was 10.

Because it’s a two word phrase?

OneSparklyGoat · 07/09/2026 23:24

HumbleHun · 07/09/2026 23:06

Bravo well said, about time folk ,including me, were bought down a peg or two.

It’s an interesting discussion and I’ll gladly join a thread there if you start it.

HumbleHun · 07/09/2026 23:06

OneSparklyGoat · 07/09/2026 23:03

This is a thread for a woman struggling in her domestic life.

Perhaps you could debate the merits of the common phrase she used to described her husband purposely failing at housekeeping tasks over in pedants corner instead?

www.mumsnet.com/talk/pedants_corner

Bravo well said, about time folk ,including me, were bought down a peg or two.

OneSparklyGoat · 07/09/2026 23:03

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

This is a thread for a woman struggling in her domestic life.

Perhaps you could debate the merits of the common phrase she used to described her husband purposely failing at housekeeping tasks over in pedants corner instead?

www.mumsnet.com/talk/pedants_corner

HumbleHun · 07/09/2026 22:52

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

RealBecca · 07/09/2026 10:39

Why don't you want to split? He actively can't be arsed to do the bare minimum and is creating more work.

Longtimelurkerfinallyposts · 07/09/2026 10:34

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Weaponised+incompetence

(for @HumbleHun who seems to have led a very sheltered life and be pretty incompetent themselves, when it comes to sticking to the topic, reading the room, making use of either a search engine or a dictionary, demonstrating an understanding of spelling/ grammar or describing themselves - hardly "humble")

OP: He's not worth it. Your life would be easier without this guy living in your home. Next time he 'threatens' to leave, please try agreeing, and see what happens. If by some miracle he isn't a complete jerk, at that point he would be doing everything he could to fix the problem, change his attitude and behaviour etc...

Weaponised Incompetence

For those who think it's easier to annoy you than to Google 'Weaponised incompetence' themselves.

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Weaponised+incompetence

PrincessFairyWren · 07/09/2026 09:08

Totaldramallama · 06/09/2026 13:30

Unfortunately I think a lot of men would sleep on a bare mattress and barely notice

Unfortunately I think the a lot of men like the OP's partner would do this to a infant but then get cranky at their wives for not making he bed properly for them and kick off a stink.

How many men are incapable of bathing their children when their wife is away but don't seem to forget to have a shower themselves.

Bonkers1966 · 06/09/2026 20:04

He sounds like a pathetic lazy loser who can't even be bothered with his own child's comfort. It's baffling that you want to stay with him.

WhisperingHi · 06/09/2026 20:00

I’d be calling his bluff.

”good luck then, literally everyone wants a mattress covered, and future wife would be sick to death of your laziness too”.

It’s pure laziness. He simply can’t be arsed.

LilacBalloons · 06/09/2026 19:58

Grumpyoldcat · 06/09/2026 16:34

He sounds completely useless. Can you find something for him to do that doesnt require lots of thought. Clean the bathrooms? Men like routine. They cant think beyond the task in hand.

Yes they bloody can, otherwise they wouldn't be able to be chefs or surgeons or accountants or architects or managers or postmen or teachers or nursers or literally any other job requiring one iota of forward planning. Women don't have a mysterious extra hemisphere of the brain that allows them to understand housework.

Easilyforgotten · 06/09/2026 19:56

99bottlesofkombucha · 06/09/2026 02:13

i would say yes I absolutely draw the line at neglect. If you cannot do better than be an actively neglectful parent who puts your child’s health and safety at risk then we should separate, I will report your behaviours and you won’t get custody. Putting a child to sleep on a bare mattress is neglect. If I weren’t here they’d have weed on the mattress and there is no chance you cleaned it properly, putting a child to sleep on a wee soaked mattress is neglect and cps should be called. I will not live here having to actively fight you to not have our child neglected nor do I want to live with you while you do fuck all for your child. So would you like to leave or would you like to be a dad who loves his child? It’s either or, if you can’t be a caring dad then I do not want you here. I’ll tell everyone why too, you won’t get away with any bullshit like she was too demanding and nagging.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

LilacBalloons · 06/09/2026 19:54

I think if my husband showed so little care for our baby that he put them down on a bare mattress with no sheet it would be over for us. I simply couldn't spend my life with someone so unspeakably lazy that they wouldn't take two minutes to make sure their own baby was comfortable overnight. What an inadequate little man.

DownThePubWithStevieNicks · 06/09/2026 19:49

OneSparklyGoat · 06/09/2026 18:20

Your overall perspective on the topic is self-righteous, wrong and I think it’s damaging to women.

The topic is men who can’t and won’t do basic chores, and I’m damaging women by saying they shouldn’t be in relationships with these men?

It’s damaging to women to suggest this is just the sort of thing we have to put up with. And it’s insulting to women who have been abused to suggest this is in the same ball park.

Londonmummy66 · 06/09/2026 19:20

blueberrymilkshake · 06/09/2026 07:15

For a former English teacher, spelling doesn’t seem to be your strong suit.

Nor grammar if they think party's is the plural of party.............

Est1990 · 06/09/2026 19:19

Maybe you need to list his good/bad aspects and see if they overall are positive or not.

Don't mean to sound rude or childish but if a) you don't want to divorce and b) he doesn't want therapy then trying to find his positives might be the way to make you feel better and deal with things in a way that is not draining your energy

He clearly doesn't care

gamerchick · 06/09/2026 18:29

He's training you and it seems to be working. What happens when his lazy arse is dealing with a toddler?

Next time he says he's going to leave, tell him if he's unable to learn how to adult then the fucking door is over there.

Greenmouldycheese · 06/09/2026 18:26

He tried putting rhe baby down with no undersheet and is lazy. He wouldnt have to threaten to leave because I'd divorce him. Youre not his mother, you are his wife and partner.

I cant believe the amount of women I see in here in shit relationships and having children with shit men.

whatwouldlilacerullodo · 06/09/2026 18:25

Just give up. You're flogging a dead horse. (I flogged a dead horse for 10 years. Don't recommend it)

MsPrufrockk · 06/09/2026 18:23

HumbleHun · 06/09/2026 01:50

Thankyou, he/she still.keeps in touch and allows me to name drop them at dinner party's and functions.

Taught English and don't know the difference between party's and parties? Hmm, sure.

MsPrufrockk · 06/09/2026 18:21

HumbleHun · 06/09/2026 01:45

You won't find it in the Oxford English dictionary that's for sure. I should know I used to teach English and taught one of the current senior script writers on Emmerdale when he/she was 10.

Oh yes, definitely an elderly man 🤣